Coin collecting device



Dec. 18, 1956 M. GRAN T 2,774,533

COIN COLLECTING DEVICE Filed Feb. 6, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l l: IXI ENTOR.

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1956 M. L. GRANT 2,774,533

COIN COLLECTING DEVICE Filed Feb. 6. 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 frzaemfiar Max l. Gram? j; W

(ZZZ a United States Patent COIN COLLECTING DEVICE Max L. Grant, Providence, R. I.

Application February 6, 1951, Serial No. 209,615

2 Claims. (Cl. 232-44) This invention pertains to fare collection boxes such as are employed, for example, in public transportation systems for receiving the fares of passengers, and relates more particularly to an improved top or coin hopper for such a box. Boxes of the type to which thi invention relates are commonly installed in public buses or similar vehicles. 'When thus used, the usual prior box is subject tocertain operative deficiencies (in particular as concerns the reception of the fare) which are peculiar to thi environment.

The driver of such a bus is usually seated at the lefthand side of the vehicle and the passenger entrance is directly opposite, at the right-hand side. The fare collection box must be so positioned that it is readily accessible for the deposit of coins by the passenger, but at the same time it must be clearly visible to the driver who must check the coins deposited. The available space for the location of the fare box is thus quite limited and the overall size of the box, particularly its horizontal dimensions, must be kept Within closely fixed bounds. Moreover, the particular place at which the box must be located is not usually well illuminated at night, since strong interior illumination at the front of the vehicle interferes with the drivers view of the road, while the overhead interior lights of the vehicle often dim when the vehicle stops, at the very time at which fares are being deposited.

The public is generally aware that long stops of the bus for the entry of passengers are undesirable, and in most instances passengers feel under some inner compulsion to deposit their fares a quickly as possible. Thus, unless the coin-receiving hopper is of substantial superficial area, or at least has the appearance of substantial size, passengers, impelled by this nervous feeling of hurry,

often drop coins on the floor instead of into the proper receptacle.

On the other hand, because of the ingenuity exhibited by predatory persons in fishing coins from out the fare box, it is not permissible to provide a coin-receiving cavity which is actually of large size, in fact the gauging slot through which the coin finally finds its way into the box proper is usually of just sufii-cient length and breadth to accommodate a single new coin of the largest dimensions for which the box is intended, but to exclude coins which are bent or slugs of abnormal thickness. This requirement for anarrow delivery slot coupled with the desirability of a receiving opening of ample superficial area has resulted in the development of hopperlike coin-receiving apertures or cavities having defining walls which converge downwardly toward the delivery slot. However, in prior devices of this general type it has been found that coins dropped into the upper portion of the hopper frequently fall so that they overlap or lie transversely of the length of the slot and become bridged across the slot and do not enter the fare box proper and block the downward progress of other coins, with the result that unless the bridge is manually broken, coins thereafter deposited will pile up, or bounce out of the box and onto the floor.

Since the box top is often touched (in the operation of depositing coins) by the fingers of the passenger, its design should be such as to avoid any sharp surfaces or edges which might scratch or otherwise injure the fingers; Moreover, it should be of a material which is not corroded by perspiration or by cleaning or disinfecting reagents whi-ch may be applied to it; it should be of a character such that it i durable and not easily broken by accidents nor intent; it should be so designed as to provide a competent guard against surreptitious entry into the box; desirably it should be of pleasing and ornamental shape and appearance and it should be easy to make and to put in place and of "a character to facilitate its illumination from a source (preferably within the box itself) which is independent of the usual vehicle lights.

Desirably the driver should be able to check the coins as they are dropped into the hopper and without waiting for them to fall down into an inspection chamber and Without requiring that he divert his attention from other duties for more than an instant; it is desirable that the coin receiver be provided with easily discernible characters or means to instruct the depositor of the place to deposit the fare and/or the amount of the fare; and further that the upper surface of the box top be so shaped, for example by inclining it to the horizontal, that coins can not be left on the top in lieu of putting them into the hopper cavity. 7

Fare boxes are commonly designed to receive coins of different denominations and are often provided with means for assorting the coins and for delivering coins of different denominations into independent magazines, usually arranged in a row or series extending transversely of the fare box. The receiving top which must extend across the entire width of the box, should have a coinreceiving cavity of substantially less width than the top itself since an unduly wide coin hopper involves the use of sloping walls of such small angle to the horizontal that the coins may not slide rapidly into the box or may easily bridge across the cavity, while a cavity of undue extent invites attempts to extract coins from the box. It is further desirable that the top be of a material which may be self-colored so as to insure a permanent retention of the coloring and in particular of a material which is capable of taking colors which are pleasing or arresting tothe eye of the observer.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a top for a fare collection box so devised as to afford a very easy entrance for the coins and such that if several coins be deposited at the same time they will all find their way through the gauging slot without further handling or manipulation by the bus driver or passenger. Another object of the invention is to provide a top for the fare collection box having a coin-receiving hopper so shaped that it will have the psychological effect upon the passenger of seeming to provide ample room or entrance for the coins which he is to deposit. Another object of the invention is to provide a coin-receiving hopper whose walls are so shaped that coins dropped into the hopper will be spaced or oriented automatically so as to pass through the gauging slot without bridging or blocking the slot or hopper. Another object of the invention is to provide a top for a fare box having its upper surface so devised that if coins be placed thereon they will fall off and will not remain, even temporarily, on said surface. Another object of the invention is to provide a top for a fare collection box Whose upper surface is so shaped and inclined that it will have the psychological effect upon the passenger of causing immediaterecognition that this surface is not intended to receive the coin,

thereby directing the attention of the passenger to the fact that there is a cavity which is the proper and intended place for the deposit of the coins. Another object of the invention is to provide a top fora fare. collection: box such as to facilitate the provision of indicator'means for instructing the user asto how to deposit the coins and wherein such indicator means is well protected from wear or abuse. Another object of the invention is to provide a top for a fare collection box which is readily and adequately illuminated throughout its entirety by a source within the box itself. Another object of the invention is to provide a top of such construction that coins, moving downwardly throughthe hopper toward the gauging slot, are clearly visible to the driver through the substance of the box. top. Another object of. the invention is to provide a top having provision for: the ready installation of gauges of interchangeable-size,operative to prevent obj ects, suchv as bent coins, from entering the: fare box- Another object of the invention is to provide a top for a fare collectionboxso. devisedthat' it: may readily be given a permanent coloring, thereby to enhance the aesthetic effect of the collection box. A further object is to facilitate the removal of a coin which is unable to pass down through the gauging slot.

With these and other objects in view the invention involves the novel features of construction hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the upper portion of a fare box with the coin-receiving. top of the present invention mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

'Fig. 3 is a vertical section, to larger scale, substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 2; v

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the box top of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a top of modified construction;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and 7 is a fragmentary section on the line 77 of Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates the upper part of a fare box which may be of conventional type and whose walls are of metal, wood or other desirable material. The box is closed at its top in accordance with the present. invention by the coin-receiving top 11. In accordance with. the present invention, thistop 11 is preferably of light-transmittingmaterial, desirably transparent. While it is possible that glass may beused for the purposegit: is preferred to employ a synthetic resin since such. material: is less easily broken. The synthetic plastic methyl. methacrylate, commonly known as Lucite is desirable for the purpose, since it is easily worked; it isrigid and shape-retaining at all normal temperatures; it is capable of receiving and maintaining for substantial periods of time a smooth, polished surface; it is not as cold to the touch as metal, and this material, methyl methacrylate, in particular, has the unusual character of conducting light with substantially no internal absorption.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, the top-11 is a solid block of the selected material, which may be shaped by mold ing in a suitable mold or by machining the top from a solid block of the pre-molded material. The top 11 has a substantially fiat, horizontal bottom surface 12 (Fig. 2) designed to rest on the upper edge of the fare box 10 and to be attached to the latter in any suitable way. As illustrated, more particularly in Fig. 2, the. top 11 is of substantially triangular shape in. transverse section, comprising the downwardly and forwardly sloping front wall 14 and the rear wall 16. As herein. described that side, of the box: which faces the in-com'ing passenger is considered to be the front of the box and the side of the Cit box which is toward the bus driver is termed the rear of the box. In the present instance the rear wall 16 is shown as inclining upwardly and rearwardly, although such inclination is without function so far as the coinreceiving operation of the top is concerned. The slope of the face 14 is such that a coin placed thereon will slide off and not remain on the surface 14, the angle of slope depending upon the coefficient of friction of the selected material used in makingv the top. However, when methyl methacrylate is employed the slope of the surface 14 may be of the order of 30 to the horizontal.

The top has the end surfaces 15 (Fig. 1) which may be substantially vertical, and all of the exposed edges of the top are smoothly rounded, thus" providing a pleasing appearance and avoiding any possibility of injury to the user by contact with sharp edges.

A hopper-shaped coin-receiving cavity 20 is formed in the top 11, preferably nearer the back than the front, this cavity tapering downwardly and terminating at a transversely elongate passage 28 through. which coins may drop into the interior of the fare box It). This passage is always open for the free downward flow of properly oriented coins but is of less front-to-rear width than the diameter of the smallest coin to be collected so that the coins can only move edgewise through this passage. On the other hand this slot or passage is of a front-to-rear width suflicient to permit a plurality of coins whose horizontal diameters are parallel to the front wall or slot of the passage to pass down simultaneously through the passage. Thehopper cavity 20 is defined by the downwardly and forwardly sloping rear wall 22 (Figs. 1 and 2.); thedownwardly and rearwardly sloping front wall 21 (Fig. 2) and downwardly sloping side walls 29 and 30 (Fig. 3). The front wall 21 may be straight, that is tosay flat, and steeply sloped, for example it may be substantially perpendicular to the upper surface 14, but joining the latter in a smoothly rounded edge 23. As illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4, the rear wall 22 is forwardly convex. But the curved surface 22 terminates at the point T below which the rear wall is-flat and slopes rearwardly parallel with the lower part of the front wall 21 thus providing a rearwardly and downwardly directed passage 28 which is effective to deliver all coins in substantially the same plane. While this passage 28 is of a front-to-rear width sufficient to allow several substantially parallel coins at the same time to pass downwardly through it, it blocks the passage of a coin whose plane is perpendicular to the length of the slot. Thus, coins delivered into the hopper are alloriented so that their horizontal diameters are substantially parallel to the front wall 21 before they can pass downwardly through-the slot 28. This downwardly sloping passage 28 is especially advantageous when the top is to be used with a fare collection box having an inclined coin supporting plate against which the coins lean as they slide down through an inspection chamber, since. the coins emerge from the slot 28' in position to slide down onto the supporting plate without tendency to bounce, twist or jam. Preferably, as illustrated in Fig. 3, the side walls 29 and 30- areslightly convex inwardly, that is to say toward each other. The combination of the curved rear wall and the flat forward wall isvery effective in preventing coins from bridging or lodging in the hopper 20 on their way to the slot 28. As illustrated in Fig. 2, if coins such as the coins 24 and 25, for example, should fall into the hopper so that their planes are perpendicular to the rear wall 22 of the hopper, they will engage the front and rear walls of the hopper along a line L which is below the horizontal plane of the centers 26 and 27 of the respective coins. If the coins land in this position, they tend automatically to rotate about the line L and in so doing, almost invariably twist and become so oriented that their horizontal diameters are approximately parallel. to the front wall 21 of the hopper cavity, whereupon they slide down the surface 22 and drop through the slot 28. Furthermore, by the use of the curved rear wall, the tendency of the coins to overlap or shingle as they slide down toward the slot 28 is minimized. Such overlapping or shingling action tends to build a bridge across the narrower portion of the hopper cavity, but when the curved walls are employed, the coins tend to tilt relatively to each other to such an extent as to minimizethe contact area between them so that one coin is not held in place by another and thus bridging is prevented. The top is to constitute the cover for a fare box of modern type, such, for example, as is illustrated in Design Patent to Grant, No. 161,689 dated January 23, 1951. Such a box provides an interior coin-inspection space and houses coin registering means, coin assorting means and a magazine for the assorted coins, the latter being within easy reach of the seated bus driver. On the other hand, the hopper cavity in the top must be at a convenient height for the deposit of coins. Thus, the permissive vertical dimensions of the top are definitely limited. As herein illustrated, the extreme height of the top is approximately one-half its extreme front-to-rear width, and the maximum height of the top would not substantially exceed two inches. As may be observed by reference to Fig. 2, the path of travel of the coins downwardly through the hopper is very short, not substantially exceeding from two to three times the diameter of the largest coin which will pass through the slot 28, and thus the proper orientation of the coins must take place within a very small period of time. Prolonged experiment has shown that to insure proper orientation of the coins during such a short path of travel, the combination of an inclined fiat wall opposed to a curved (preferably convex wall) constitutes the only effective way of accomplishing the desired result, and that this combination functions quite differently from any prior arangement wherein two downwardly convergent flat walls or two curved walls are opposed to each other.

Preferably, the underside of the top 11 is provided with a recess 31 (Fig. 2) which is designed to receive any selected one of interchangeable coin gauging members 32 (Fig. 3) which may be fitted into the recess and held therein in any desired manner, each coin gauging member 32 having a coin slot 33 of such length as to pass coins of the particular denominations for which the device is designed but to prevent the passage of indicate the amount of the fare or any other information which should be given to the passenger. By placing these designating or instructive elements at the underside of the transparent top, they are protected from contact with the fingers of the passenger and from the effects of atmospheric moisture so that they remain permanently in place and do not require replacement at frequent intervals as is true when such characters are applied, as by painting or otherwise, to the upper surface of the box top.

By placing a source of light, for example an incandescent lamp 39 (Fig. 3), within the box (where such a lamp is customarily employed to illuminate the inspection point) the whole top 11 becomes illuminated and by reason of the peculiar character of the methyl methacrylate of which it is made, it glows throughout its entire substance, thus making the characters 36 and 37 very plainly visible and at the same time clearly showing lthe location of the cavity 20. As the upper surface of the top slopes downwardly and forwardly the bus driver cannot look down into the hopper cavity when seated in his usual position but may view the content of the hopper by looking in a substantially horizontal direction along a line perpendicular to the surface 16 of the top, the transparency of the material enabling him to see the coins as they fall into the hopper cavity and readily to note whether the passenger is depositing the coins; whether the coins are in the proper amount; and whether they tend to lodge within the hopper cavity.

A further result of the employment of the curved walls 22, 29 and 30, and particularly the curved wall 22, is that the cavity appears to the eye of the observer to be larger than it really is, thus giving confidence to the person who is depositing the fare and helping to avoid the dropping of the coins at the Wrong place, or hesitation on the part of the passenger such as often occurs through a nervous fear that the coins will not be dropped at the proper point. Moreover, the resultant shape of the cavity is to facilitate the removal of coins therefrom by the finger tips, if bent or otherwise improper coins become lodged in the hopper.

The modified construction illustrated in Figs. 5 to 7, shows how the top may be made lighter in weight and with less material, and also suggests the possibility of defining the hopper cavity by walls of a different curvature. Thus, as illustrated, the top 11* is shown as hollow, being molded, for example, as a unitary mass of synthetic resin such as above described in a properly constructed mold, although alternatively it may be built up of sheet material suitably fixed or joined together at the meeting points. This top has the sloping upper surface 14*, the horizontal lower edge 12, the rear surface 16 and end surfaces such as 15. The exposed edges and corners are preferably smoothly rounded. In this arrangement the hopper cavity 20* is defined by a downwardly and rearwardly sloping front wall 21 which is substantially flat, and by rear and side walls 22 29"- and 30, respectively. In this instance the walls 29 30 and 22 are slightly concave (rather than convex, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4). Such concavely curved walls function in substantially the same way as the convexly curved walls previously described, to prevent bridging of coins as they are dropped into the hopper.

In this arrangement, the designating or instructive characters orwords (corresponding to the parts 36 and 37 illustrated in Fig. 1) may readily be carried by a piece of sheet material, for example paper, as indicated at 37 (Fig. 6) which is adhesively secured to the underside of the forward portion of the upper wall W of the top 11 As thus positioned, the parts which carries the designating characters is fully protected against mechanical injury, or injury from atmospheric moisture, and may readily be replaced by another piece provided with other characters if it be desired to change the indications.

As illustrated in Fig. 5, a distinctive border 40 is arranged around the margin of the hopper cavity 20 this border, for example, being an inlay of material of a color or degree of opacity different from that of the top Wall W, or it may be applied to the underside of the top Wall in the same way as thepiece 37 While desirable embodiments of the invention have been illustrated by way of example it is to be understood that the invention is broadly inclusive of any and all modifications falling within the terms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A transversely elongate coin receiving device for a box designed to receive multiple-coin fares, said device having a base and an upper surface having therein a hopper-like depression with front, rear and side walls, the front wall being substantially plain and sloping downwardly and rearwardly at an angle of approximately 60 to the horizontal, that surface of the rear wall which is opposed to the front wall being curved convexly toward said plain front wall, the upper portion of the convexly amass-e curved rear wall having a slope angle whichis substantially less than the slope angle of the front' wall, the terminal portion of said convex-1y curved rear wall having a downward and rearward slope approximating the slope of the flat front wall, the side walls converging downwardly toward each other, and the several walls terminating at their lower portions at an elongate exit slot of narrow front-to-rear width.

2. A transversely elongate generally rectangular coin receiving top for a fare collecting box designed to receive multiple-coin fares, said top having an upper surface in which is a hopper-like open depression which at its top is of a front-to-rear width substantially exceeding the diameter of the largest coin to be collected, the superficial area of the depression at its top being such that it may receive a multiple-coin fare dropped freely there into, the depression decreasing progressively downwardly in horizontal area and terminating at a constantly open and unobstructed rectangular coin-exit slot of a length from left to right such as to pass the largest coin to be collected but so narrow from front to' rear that all coins passing through it must be disposed in substantially the same plane, the front wall of the depression being substantially flat and sloping downwardly and rearwardly at an angle of approximately 60 to the horizontal, the rear wall being'forwardly convex in all vertical planes perpendicular to the front wall, the upper portion of the convexly curved rear wall having a slope angle which is sub- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 161,689 Grant Jan. 23, 1951 140,669 Baranger July 8, 1873 214,661 Hornurn Apr. 22, 1879 269,195 Golding Dec. 19, 1882 370,261 Kail Sept. 20, 1887 399,820 Beaman Mar. 19, 1889 665,353 Titus Jan. 1, 1901 1,116,435 Johnson Nov. 10, 1914 1,268,723 Johnson June 4, 1918 1,353,970 Mullett Sept. 28, 1920 2,049,527 Stockel Aug. 4, 1936 2,338,575 Daugherty Jan. 4, 1944 2,367,999 Collins Jan. 23, 1945 2,514,846 CoppOld July 11, 1950 2,627,685 Henry Feb. 10, 1953 2,642,073 Ingraham June 16, 1953 

